In a wireless system enabling a high data rate transmission, a device may be classified into any one of three types. For example, a type A device may support antenna training and a communication distance thereof is about 10 meters. A type B device may not support antenna training, and a communication distance thereof is about five meters. A type C device may support only a master-slave operation and a communication distance thereof is about 2 meters. Here, the term “device” denotes a communication device that may transmit data at a high data rate.
In the wireless system enabling a high data rate transmission, when a power is applied, a device may initially verify which neighboring devices exist in a current network. The device may perform a device discovery procedure to perform antenna training with a neighboring device, as necessary.
Hereinafter, the device discovery procedure is referred to as a discovery procedure. The device performing the discovery procedure is referred to as a discovery device.
To search for neighboring devices, the discovery device may transmit, via a discovery channel, a beacon where a status field is set to a discovery. Hereinafter, the beacon where the status field is set to the discovery is referred to as a “discovery beacon” or a “Poll frame”.
Also, to search for different types of devices, the discovery device may transmit a beacon using a physical (PHY) mode supported by a desired type device. Here, the beacon using the PHY mode supported by the desired type device is referred to as the “Poll frame”.
When performing the discovery procedure, each of devices may divide a space into sectors, and perform the discovery procedure with devices included in the sectors. In this instance, to perform the discovery procedure with the devices of the sectors, the discovery device may transmit the beacon or the poll frame using a directional beam. For a response to the beacon or the poll frame, the devices may also transmit a response message to a corresponding sector using the directional beam. Hereinafter, the device receiving the beacon or the poll frame from the discovery device is referred to as a neighboring device. The neighboring device may also perform discovery scanning for each sector according to an antenna performance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus that enables a device to effectively perform a discovery procedure, and enables each of a type A device, a type B device, and a type C device to accurately perform discovery scanning for each sector in a wireless system enabling a high data rate transmission.